The Golden Calves Read Free Page B

reluctance."
    â€œMaybe I haven’t any friends."
    â€œAnd maybe that is something I should have remedied,” the older woman insisted. “And given some dinner parties for young people. Well, it’s never too late to start. Let’s have a party and ask Mr. Addams.”
    Anita could hardly suppress a little groan. "Dear,
dear
Miss Speddon, won’t you ever realize that I’m perfectly happy the way things are? That I have adored being included in your life and taken in by your friends? That I want nothing else? Can’t we just go on as we have been?”
    But Miss Speddon could be inexorable where she spied a duty she might have shirked. "Certainly not. I must consider your best interests. I stand to some degree
in loco parentis.
"
    â€œOh, altogether! I have no family now but you.”
    Miss Speddon frowned. “You must not say that or even think it. Remember your mother and father.”
    â€œBut they’re not my mother and father! You know that. They adopted me only because they thought they couldn’t have children, and when they did, my sole use was gone. Oh, I’m not saying they haven’t been decent enough; they have, and so have my stepmother and both my stepfathers and all the halfs and steps, but they don’t any of them really care about me, and they were tickled pink when you took me over and all my problems. Why can’t I adopt somebody, too? I adopt you as my mother!” Then she thought of Miss Speddon’s fortune and blushed very red. “Oh, of course, I don't mean anything legal or having to do with rights or anything like that! I mean just here at home. Oh, Miss Speddon, what must you think of me!”
    "I think of you as a very dear young woman whom I regard as a kind of ward. I don't in the least mind being entirely frank about legal matters. I shall not leave you any substantial part of my estate—’’
    "Oh, Miss Speddon, please!” Anita cried in agony. What kind of a mad day was she having?
    "Let me finish, dear. I was raised with very strict principles about inherited money. I believe it is incumbent upon me to leave the bulk of the Speddon money that my grandfather made to his descendants, except to the extent that I may deflect it to charity. Accordingly, I am leaving my collection and two thirds of my Speddon estate to the museum, and one-third to my nephew and niece. As the latter are very well off, this should satisfy them. But I also have the money that I call ‘my own,’ the much more modest estate that my mother left me.
She
had no other descendants, so with this I may provide for friends and servants, including you, my dear. It is no fortune that I’ll be leaving you, but it should keep you decently, and I shall request the museum to retain you to look after my things.”
    Anita burst into tears. "I don’t want to live after you!”
    â€œBut you will, my dear, and I trust you’ll have a long and happy life. And as you choose to regard me as a mother, I think you should heed my advice. Which is this: do not rule out the idea of marriage. Keep an open mind. If the right man comes along—”
    Anita could bear it no longer. “If you mean Mark Addams, I think you should know he has no thoughts of me in that line. He has a long-standing affair with a lawyer in Mr. Claverack’s firm."
    "A lawyer?” Miss Speddon’s lips were pursed to a small
o
of surprise and distaste.
    â€œI think you’ve actually met her.”
    "Oh, a woman. For a moment I thought you meant ... We have to be ready for anything these days. But these liaisons must be expected of young men. They don't last forever."
    "But this one seems quite permanent. They'll probably get married. And even if they don’t, I have no interest like that in Mark. Let us not talk about him, please. And I promise you that I’ll keep an open mind about marriage. There! Will that do? Now, why don’t you tell